People under 60 now more vulnerable to death caused by Coronavirus: Union Health Ministry

Till April 18, the age group of (0-60 years) had registered less than 25% of the deaths due to Coronavirus in the country. The tables have turned since then as almost half the people who have died of Coronavirus (1,075 till April 30) are under 60 years of age now, as noted by the Union Health Ministry.

On the other hand, those aged over 75 years now account for only 9.2 per cent of the deaths, a sharp fall from the 42.2 percent earlier.

Officials have said that it might be because of high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in the 45-60 age group in the country.

“This could also be because a lot of people between 45 and 60 years of age have other comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension in India. Also we got thousands of students who returned from other countries and were afflicted,” said a senior ministry official, as quoted by the Economic Times.

Meanwhile, according to the latest data released by the Union Health Ministry, 14 per cent of COVID-19 patients who died were less than 45 years, 34.8 percent were 45-60 years, 42 per cent were 60-75 years, 9.2 per cent were over 75 years. This means that 48.8 per cent of those who died were aged less than 60 years.